Good evening everyone from Takotna, a short day in terms of miles, not so much in terms of effort. 

The trail is notoriously gnarly leaving McGrath through Iditarod. I thought I’d caught a break, it was pretty solid early on and then four or five snowmobiles came and tossed it upside down and there was a good climb - a lot of walking so...18 miles to get here in 6.5 hours.

Which is OK it was great to get in and out of McGrath. That’s a tempting place to spend way too much time, our hosts there are just the best of the best and would continue to feed you for days on end. 

I did a lot of homework before the race with veterans of past years, Jay Cable especially, and he was very direct in his directions to stay in Takotna. Ophir has nothing and is apparently notoriously cold...So, I have found shelter for the evening here in Takotna, going to make myself dinner, push through Ophir tomorrow to the Tolstoy shelter cabin, which is about 20 miles past Ophir and about 60 miles from Iditarod.

I’m entering a pretty big stretch here where the trail will...we’ll just see.

The skys are clear now, it snowed a bit earlier which had some effect on the trail but, again, I’m out of McGrath and on my way now and feels as though the adventure is really beginning. So, tomorrow we will start the march to Iditarod, the dogs launch tomorrow, a lot of exciting things happening. 

I’m mostly healthy, I have a little bit of a sore throat that I seem to be managing well, so all systems go!

I miss you all dearly, but it is a truly extraordinary adventure. I hope that you’re all following along, I can feel all the mojo and good vibes being sent through that GPS tracker. 

I also hope that you will consider, if you have anyone in your life that has been affected by cancer, clicking one of our links and making a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - 100% of the donation goes to them.

 

I’ll keep pedaling, you make that donation, and get on Facebook, let them know what’s going on that you’re backing the ‘1000 Miles to Nome’ and the cause of beating cancer one day, once and for all.
Tomorrow: Iditarod, Alaska
Onwards!